WATER HEATER
A water heat includes a case having an airtight chamber therein, a water pipe received in the chamber of the case with a first connection end and a second connection end extended out of the case respectively, a thermal medium, which is liquid in a room temperature, received in the chamber of the case, and a heating device for heating the thermal medium directly or indirectly.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a heating device, and more particularly to a water heater.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, conventional water heaters include gas water heaters and electric water heaters. The gas water heater has a continuous S pipe therein and a gas burner heating the pipe directly. The electric water heater has two types. The first type has an electric heater to heat water directly. The second type has electromagnetic heating means, which generates an eddy current to induce a metal block, and then water flows through the metal block to be heated. Typically, the gas water heater has a poorer efficiency than the electric water heater, and it has to consider the air ventilation issue for the place mounting the gas water heater to avoid accident. The other problem of the gas water heater is that it usually has a long distance between the water heater and the hydrant that user has to wait for the cold water in the pipe running out before the water comes out, and the temperature will loss in the long pipe also. Another issue of the gas water heater is temperature control. It is caused by the long pipe also to have the reaction time of temperature change too slow that user usually over adjusts to make the water temperature too hot or too cold when the water temperature had been changed to the designed temperature. Some small electric water heaters have no water tank therein that such water heater may be mounted in the house. The advantage of it is fast reaction in temperature adjustment, and the drawback of it is that it can not supply sufficient hot water. There are large electric water heaters in the present market, which may supply sufficient hot water. However, the mounting place is limited, and it still has the problem of too long distance between the water heater and hydrant.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary objective of the present invention is to provide a water heater, which has a superior heat efficiency to save power and supply enough hot water.
According to the objective of the present invention, a water heat includes a case having an airtight chamber therein, a water pipe received in the chamber of the case with a first connection end and a second connection end extended out of the case respectively, a thermal medium, which is liquid in a room temperature, received in the chamber of the case, and a heating device for heating the thermal medium directly or indirectly.
As shown in
A case 20 has an airtight chamber 30 therein, with a pressure lower than one atmospheric pressure. The chamber 30 is preferred vacuumed. The required pressure in the chamber 30 is less than 10−1 Torr, and more preferable is less than 10−2 Torr, and further more preferable is less than 10−3 Torr.
A water pipe 40 is a continuous S-shaped pipe mounted in the case 20, which has a first connection end 41 and a second connection end 42 extended out of the case 20 respectively at opposite sides of the case 20, and the second connection is at a higher position and the first connection end is at a lower position, as shown in
A thermal medium 50, which is a liquid in room temperature with a lower vaporized temperature, is received in the chamber 20 of the case 10. A need of the thermal medium 50 is not much. Typically, sufficient thermal medium 50 only takes 1.5% to 20% of a volume of the chamber 20, preferable is 2% to 15%, and more preferable is 10%. The consideration of the quantity of the thermal medium 50 is cost and heat transfer efficiency. Any quantity of the thermal medium 50 in the chamber 20 should be still in the scope of the present invention. The thermal medium may be a material with a high volatility, such as ether, alcohol, benzene or a mixture of above, or other suitable materials.
A heating device 60, which is an electric heater, is mounted on a bottom of the case 10.
As shown in
The present invention provides the thermal medium to be the heat transfer medium that the heat generated from the heating device is transferred to the entire space in the case. The water heater of the present invention can heat a greater quantity of water very fast. While the water heater of the present invention is equipped with electric heating device, it can be mounted in the shower room or kitchen directly. It is very easy to mount and operate the water heater of the present invention. Some embodiments provide a thermal isolation device to have all the power in heating water. The power loss is minimized
Claims
1. A water heat, comprising:
- a case having an airtight chamber therein;
- a water pipe received in the chamber of the case with a first connection end and a second connection end extended out of the case respectively;
- a thermal medium, which is liquid in a room temperature, received in the chamber of the case; and
- a heating device for heating the thermal medium directly or indirectly.
2. The water heater as defined in claim 1, wherein a pressure in the chamber is lower than one atmospheric pressure.
3. The water heater as defined in claim 2, wherein the chamber of the case is vacuumed.
4. The water heater as defined in claim 2, wherein the pressure in the chamber 30 is less than 10−2 Torr.
5. The water heater as defined in claim 1, wherein the water pipe has a continuous S shape, and the second connection end is higher than the first connection end.
6. The water heater as defined in claim 1, wherein the heating device is a burner mounted on a bottom of the case.
7. The water heater as defined in claim 6, wherein the heating device is a gas burner.
8. The water heater as defined in claim 1, wherein the heating device is an electric heater mounted on a bottom of the case.
9. The water heater as defined in claim 1, wherein the heating device is an electric heater mounted on a bottom of the chamber.
10. The water heater as defined in claim 1, wherein the thermal medium takes 1.5% to 20% of a volume of the chamber.
11. The water heater as defined in claim 1, wherein the thermal medium is made of a material with a high volatility selected from a group consisting of ether, alcohol, benzene.
12. The water heater as defined in claim 1, further comprising a thermal isolation layer surrounding the case.
13. The water heater as defined in claim 1, further comprising an outer case enclosing the case therein.
14. The water heater as defined in claim 13, wherein a vacuum thermal isolation layer is provided between the out case and the case.
15. The water heater as defined in claim 13, wherein a thermal isolation layer is provided between the out case and the case.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 13, 2009
Publication Date: Sep 17, 2009
Inventors: Fa-Sheng CHANG (Taipei County), Heng-Ching Chou (Taipei County)
Application Number: 12/403,650
International Classification: F23C 5/08 (20060101); F24H 9/02 (20060101); F24H 1/18 (20060101);